Browsing by Author "Mc Clelland, Michelle"

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    Evaluating sectoral innovation system functional performance in the additive manufacturing sector: cemented tungsten carbides case studies
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Mc Clelland, Michelle; Grobbelaar, Sara Susanna; Sacks, Natasha; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is well known that innovation and manufacturing have traditionally played a vital role in the economic growth of developing countries. A ceramic widely used in manufacturing is cemented tungsten carbide, also known as hardmetal. Hardmetals are known for their significant ability to withstand extreme conditions and are used to manufacture abrasives, bearings and cutting tools as it is more heat-resistant than diamonds. Although traditional hardmetal manufacturing techniques are successful globally, several additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are being investigated as complementary manufacturing processes due to the design benefits the technologies offer. For society and the South African hardmetal industry to benefit from AM technology, the research studies on these technologies must be translated into valuable and innovative products, processes and services that are diffused and integrated into industry and the economy. Although the South African government has developed several national strategies relevant to the South African hardmetal industry, the effectiveness of the governmental support of the industry has not yet been explored through the innovation system framework. This study proposes an analysis framework to study the evolution of innovation systems. The framework, based on the literature on the innovation system framework, the method of event history analysis and the realist evaluation perspective’s logic structure, are developed through the design science research (DSR) methodology. Its objective is to guide the obtainment and documentation of the influential events in a system’s development and to structure the analysis of the event data according to context, intervention, mechanism, and outcome logic. The framework may therefore aid innovation scholars and system analysts to successfully analyse and compare the evolution of innovation systems and gain practical insights into possible support mechanisms. Moreover, the framework is shown to address and successfully overcome shortcomings of existing frameworks in the literature. As part of the DSR methodology, this study presents four instantiations of the framework to four novel case studies. These instantiations demonstrate the frameworks’ comprehensiveness in gaining case-specific insights. The framework’s ability to generalise across case levels is also validated as the insights from four cases could be compared. Additionally, this study presents the derivation of a survey instrument from the framework’s functional elements. Finally, this study presents the analysed survey response data from 70% of the South African AM enterprises, along with policy support suggestions, derived from the case insights, to support the enterprises’ development. Conclusions derive from the case studies and survey include that the South African AM enterprises are still relatively young and typically employ less than 50 people. Value-added enterprises also dominate the industry, although several international service bureaus exist. Furthermore, the enterprises struggle to identify laws and regulations that support AM technology, and startup enterprises struggle to build sufficient knowledge networks. Finally, this study suggests six important process mechanisms for translating manufacturing inventions into valuable and innovative products and processes that are diffused and integrated into industry.